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This week was a pretty solid week for new comics, with several issues I was actively looking forward to, some just interested in, a surprise, and a couple bargain-bin issues!

This week has the concluding chapters of The OZ Effect in Action Comics and A Lonely Place of Living in Detective Comics. There’s this week’s new issue of TMNT/Ghostbusters 2.

The latest Metal one-shot/special/tie-in, and the new issue of Fighting American. And since I’d bought the "#800" variant of Superman #34, figured this Wonder Woman one would be a nifty match (I hope whatever Batman one will be as easy to get!).

As said last week, something like this is where a variant actually IS warranted, "fun," a nice nod, etc. And it’s a hugely great thing that it’s NOT–after over a year and a half of "Rebirth numbering" now jumping the titles to the legacy numbers. (Action Comics and Detective Comics are definite exceptions, where it works, as they ONLY have ONE "gap" into which the low-numbers and style CLEARLY differentiate them from their 1930s/1940s counterparts…as opposed to cramming three, four, five-plus #1s/2s/3s/etc in to a single number string).

The new Mister Miracle and Ragman issues; cases where mini/maxi-series are interesting enough to get as singles…especially when NOT all are "default-priced" at $3.99. These may not be Rebirth-branded titles, but that does not disqualify them (as default) from $2.99 pricing. Same goes for Gotham City Garage (which is–I believe–essentially a "reprint collection" of digital-first chapters).

Then from some Vertigo bargain bins, I snagged the two Swamp Thing annuals; only added $1 to my total, so definitely well worthwhile.

All in all, not a bad week’s worth of issues…though I have GOT to get everything from the last few months rounded back up and properly sorted, and dive in to actually READ, after leaving everything aside to charge through 60+ Savage Dragon and related issues!

This week was a rather large week for new comics! Lotta interesting and interesting-ish stuff out…

I need to catch up on my actual READING of them, but I’m really digging these one-shots focusing on the various Bat-men. For what I feel compelled to get new in the week, it’s great that there’s a new chapter each week, and does not feel like an overwhelming amount with say, five or six (or seemingly so) or more chapters out in a week. PLUS, the shiny foil covers are fun as they’ve not (yet) been used to fatigue, and for something called Metal, they’re truly appropriate!

Then there’s TMNT/Ghostbusters 2…a fun crossover conceptually, and I enjoyed the first series, so why not a second? And getting at least a weekly dose of TMNT through this, plus the "regular" stuff? Makes for a good month!

As anyone reading this knows, I’m sick and tired of variants, in general. An honest exception is where it’s warranted…such as with this week’s Superman #34! Shows that the 800th issue can be celebrated without having to DERAIL an entire numbered series! It’s observing the anniversary without having to BE a #800!

After the Jetsons backup in one of the specials back in the spring, I certainly wasn’t going to not check out an actual series that looks like it follows up on that! And I’m amused at the "return" of some more obscure characters lately, what with Deadman here, Ragman recently, and Mister Miracle. Then Usagi Yojimbo, which has been trucking along over the years; even with some hiatuses apparently, but it’s back, and I’m enjoying it thus far.

Now, here’s where location and promotion can pay off: Black Lightning takes place locally, apparently–Cleveland, Ohio–and I don’t think I’d realized, but apparently the creator is local, too! So of course I’ll check this series out! I’m giving Harley and Ivy/Betty and Veronica a chance for the heckuvit…it’s a novelty thing. DuckTales ought to be a given, but I’m still not ready to commit month in/month out…especially as I’m behind on watching the new cartoon.

I need to catch up on actually reading Bane and Astonishing X-Men; already having several issues defeats the point of a collected volume, so "cheaper" to finish out the stories (plus the convenience of having all the issues in-house when I do finally binge-read).

I was not going to bother with Captain America, but some strong positive words on it from a shop owner went a long way with me. It gets this one issue, and I probably won’t come back til the novelty of whatever #700 is…but then again, maybe I’ll end up sticking around until #700. Time shall tell!

The Lion King is one of my all-time favorite films (period, no sub-categorizing or such for "animated feature" or stuff like that). So for the price of two DC issues (or 1 1/2 Marvel issues), got this mini-graphic novel sized book. I think it might just be a print edition of a digital comic I’d bought years ago, but especially if so, cool to have this in print.

And somehow, I’d missed the DC Essential Graphic Novels edition for 2017, so definitely glad to have it for 2018…my OCD demands I still seek out a 2017 edition to go on the shelf with previous years!

The Deadman issue is another with an "enhanced cover," which–again–I’m enjoying from DC for the nostalgia and such, and rather judicious use. It certainly fits for something like this title, and as long as it’s only for the first issue, I’m cool with it. (If every issue was this way, no-go!). Even if the $4.99 cover price was because of this, I’m ok with that as well, from DC, in this case: no real hubbub over the cover, so it was just there, and so I was willing to pay the extra. And if the issue would have been $4.99 anyway, then heck yeah, give me something extra! (Like the foil on the Dark Nights/Metal issues!)

And then as a bonus for the week, there were left over comics from Halloween ComicsFest, so I was able to get some of the non-kids-oriented comics (Sabrina, for one) and several other issues I’d missed out on with only choosing the ones I did last weekend. I was satisfied with what I’d gotten over the weekend…so these are definite bonus on top of that, making an expensive week feel that much more substantial!

Another simple but expensive sorta week for me! A couple of big issues, a couple of "enhanced covers" a la ’90s goodness, but at today’s prices!

THE big issue for me this week was TMNT #75. 75th issue, final chapter of the Trial of Krang, squarebound/prestige format, and with this current story, every successive issue is the highest-numbered issue a TMNT comic has ever reached. Here’s hoping we see a #100 and beyond! Due to pull list and geography, I’ll be getting the issue twice…so as the turtles are and always have been a firm exception to my other personal "rules" of comics, I picked up the B cover for now, as the A cover’s on hold for me to pick up probably next week, due to some personal hassles to deal with this weekend.

Then there’s the new Detective Comics, the penultimate chapter of A Lonely Place of Living; ditto (penultimate, I believe) in the Action Comics chapter of The Oz Effect.

Next is the shiny cover that’s become signature for this Metal event. Being in a nostalgic mood and seeing "my" Thor logo and "my" Thor on the cover, I decided I oughtta support the thing.

I’m not much for all anthologies, but decided to throw in with getting the DC House of Horror squarebound special. I believe it’s essentially this year’s New Talent Showcase or such.

Wednesday was dubbed "TMNT Day" for hitting #75, and there was this sampler issue given out that recaps the IDW run so far. Basically a "primer" to allow someone to (I suppose) jump right in with #75.

I’ve been getting Kamandi Challenge all year, but can’t remember where I left off. I’m kicking myself a bit, as at this point I pretty much could wait for the collected edition. I keep getting each new issue in case "this" is the month I binge-read/catch up…but at #10, we’re nearly to the end and to a collected volume!

Finally, I snagged Royal City vol. 1, as it’s a $9.99 vol 1, and a friend had highly recommended the series, even giving me a copy of #1; now I’ll get to read the entire first arc and go from there.

A game I’ve been looking forward to for awhile now finally arrived! Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate. This is basically an adaptation of the Betrayal at House on the Hill, with Dungeons & Dragons elements. Given I quite enjoy both, this was a definite one for me to pick up!

Of course, the next challenge is getting to actually play the game.

On to this week’s comics…

Hard to believe it’s been over a year and a half now of the "weekly" Superman stuff again, and not liking the "skip weeks" because those are weeks without a new issue of Superman or Action Comics.

Quite enjoying the Metal books, story and foil covers! Since the things would be $3.99 anyway, why not have some fun with the foil and such? If ever there was a series that "deserved" the metallic/foil covers, it’s this!

Sadly, the Marvel Legacy stuff is virtually dead on arrival for me. Yet, much as I did this past spring, I’m doing a small sampling to at least (grudgingly) give things a chance. I’m down enough on contemporary Marvel stuff, but if I flat-out never buy anything from them, well, I hardly have room to complain then, right? And at least with these, along with the jacked-up pricing, we get "fancy covers." Unfortunately, these are utterly craptastic quality covers compared to DC‘s. Looking basically head-on, they’re blurry with glare, and neither image truly comes through clearly! More on that matter in another post (or posts) later sometime.

Rounding out the week, trying a randomish Image #1 in Maestros. No clue what it’s supposed to be about, but figured I’d check it out. Wonder Woman/Conan‘s here because I got the 1st issue, and don’t want to have to "hunt" this later. Ditto on Dead of Winter. And I very definitely want to support Alterna and their "newsprint comics," even to being happy to buy an issue multiple times, as even 2 copies of an issue are still cheaper than any one single issue of a Marvel series.

All in all an interesting week with a mix of stuff. Though it definitely pales next to an order I’m expecting by the weekend (that I’ll almost certainly document here once it arrives).

This was a pretty good week’s haul…fairly straight-forward, a couple special orders and a book from last week, and some surprise quarter-bin finds!

The usual Superman issue for the week in Action Comics. The appropriately-shiny cover for Dark Days: The Casting. A #0 issue for Mage: The Hero Denied (which has me really interested in acquiring the earlier Mage stuff!) Special-ordered Calexit #1 cuz hey…I’ve got my views. Beginning to (against initial plans and judgment) accept The Sovereigns…might be the third iteration in about as many years from Dynamite of the Gold Key characters…but at least they haven’t screwed me on the "complete story-run" if I just buy one of each issue (yet)! (UnlikeValiant).

And the second-to-last issue of Letter 44…which means I’m one issue shy of having a complete run of something like this…and at 35 issues…I think that’s some kinda record for me!

I’m giving these Atari comics from Dynamite a shot…a bit for the nostalgia, a bit for the weirdness, a bit cuz hey…at least they’re new to me and not pulling the crap that Marvel does!

…and yet, I’m still getting the $1 True Believers issues. I like most of these reprints, even if some of the $1 reprints are of 25-cent books. Or of stuff I previously wouldn’t touch, period (Brand New Day).

Then there’s the weekly Comic Shop News, which I don’t usually showcase in these posts, but why not? It’s part of the weekly haul! Special-ordered Riverdale Comics Digest, which I believe reprints four or five of the #2 issues of "New Archie". I saw in the indicia that this is published four times/year…so quarterly. I really hope this lasts quite awhile…cuz I’m very willing to pay $6 for 4-5 issues’ content (and only one freaking cover!!!) rather than $3.99 per issue with umpteen ridiculously-plentiful variants!

And though I have yet to acquire any of the starter-packs…another Star Wars Destiny booster pack, because hey…I can justify one pack at a time here and there, while I’m not gonna load up on a bunch of them all at once! And once I do get starter packs, I’ve got a few extra dice and cards to customize the game.

And finally…found on top of the quarter-bins (and asked someone who was already going through the bins if he’d pulled them–he said no, they were not his), some more digests. I’m not terribly concerned about the condition at this point…just figuring as I come across these sorts (especially cheaply) I’ll grab ’em…maybe eventually I’ll make a concerted effort to hunt them all down. For now…I’ll just add to the collection!

And thus, another week of comics. A mix of publishers and genres…ongoing and one-shot and such; even a mix of formats.

Not a huge week, but not a tiny week; far less sticker shock than recently!

Even a should-be-small week can get big pretty quick. But this was definitely a worthwhile week…all the more after some apparent worries that "New Comics Day" would be Thursday due to holiday and distributor stuff!

As far as actual new comics go, definitely a small week, with the new Superman issue and Bane: Conquest, which I almost didn’t get, but since it’s not billed as Rebirth and isn’t part of a bundle, might as well keep up with it in the hopes I get to reading it before collected editions are out.

And it’s kinda hard to believe Comic Shop News is celebrating 30 years! I remember when it was still relatively new, back in 1992 or so. One of these days I’ll get all my issues together and sorted, an have a post for that…especially as I suspect I’m a weird one in the stuff I’ve actually saved over the years…including scattered issues of this!

Then there’s the books from the bargain racks. For the price of 3 standard Marvel comics, I got each of these Bizarrohardcovers. And the Wolverine: The End was…the price of a current standard Marvel, but with 6 issues, far more worthwhile!

And I’ll close off with a random picture of my "Titan" Ben Reilly figure now out of the packaging and on a shelf. I’ve long resisted most of these figures…but for being bigger (albeit less poseable), they’re way cheaper than the much smaller figures, and I’ve given on on some characters here and there. I think I have Spider-Man 2099 somewhere…might start a Spider-Men collection.

The weekly haul became a massive weekend haul due to logistics! I already posted about the books I got, since I didn’t have "regular comics" to pick up this week. Though I neglected to recall how many I had had pulled and would be picking up…plus some bargains!

While I’ve yet to sit down to actually READ any of these, I’m absolutely very much behind the $1.50 price point Alterna is able to achieve with these"newsprint" comics! (And actually, The Chair was only $1!) I believe these are basically serialized versions of previously-published graphic novels…but for the price, I’m all for it…and I love the corner-box stuff for nostalgia and whatnot. THIS is the way "legacy" and "nostalgia" SHOULD run, while being "new" and different and all that. For "only" $1.50/issue, if the thing sucks, it’s still a small investment and I won’t feel cheated the way I would at a Marvel issue costing me nearly three times what one of these cost!

Granted, Marvel does the occasional wave of $1 issues…but these are reprints of prior issues, and only a "first" issue, without the subsequent issues. Still, for the $1 price point, I like getting these True Believers issues, regardless of whether or not I already have the original or a prior reprint.

Given it seemed everyone sold out quickly of Batman/Elmer Fudd I’m quite glad I requested the issue be pulled ahead of time. Newest Superman comic in Action Comics this week; the halfway issue of the Kamandi Challenge, the 275th (!) issue of Spawn, and I believe the final issue (#12!) of Aliens: Defiance (the longest Aliens series ever, I believe, though at least one Aliens vs. Predator series in the ’90s ran about 12).

IDW was a big splash this week with two new TMNT issues for me (though I could not swear as to whether or not both shipped this week or not!); the conclusion of the Highlander mini-series, and "trying" two new #1s in Kull Eternal and Clue (cuz hey, really…a comic about the board game? And there was a movie in the ’90s? I’ll bite…)

Quite unexpectedly and on top of the massive new-issues haul, I found a bunch of issues in the 50-cent bins that grabbed my attention. A couple of Untold Tales of Spider-Man, 3 of 4 issues of Mars Attacks Savage Dragon that seems amusing enough, and a couple shiny issues in The Ray and Shadowman #0 (along with the non-shiny variant).

Then a handful of Magnus Robot Fighter issues from the Acclaim run. I may already have some of these, may not…for 50 cents, I figured I’d snag ’em anyway.

Then the gem of these: Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #s 18-36! Quite a run of the title from when Supergirl joined the book (I believe #18 was the first) and whether or not #36 was the last issue, that’ still a good 19-issue run to add to the collection!

Also quite unexpected was a 90%-off bin of trades. For mostly under $2 each (I think the Thor volume was $3.50!) I was happy to snag a bunch: much lengthier than a 20-page single issue, and at mostly half the price OF a standard single issue! Even the more expensive one was still less than a standard new issue!

The primary drawback was that yeah, everything individually was a great bargain-price (aside from the new issues)…but man, did they add up fast! This would’ve been a hefty haul even before the new issues…added together, the "sticker shock" led me to cancel a couple of other stops I was going to make. I’d spent quite enough, and that was that!

Now we’re on to (in the U.S.) a weird sort of "holiday" week, where (for me) there is NOT an "extended weekend," but rather coming off a "regular" 2 day weekend, I work Monday, have a day off Tuesday for the holiday, and back to work Wednesday through Friday.

Fun stuff, no?

As usual…hopefully the coming week’s new issues will be a smaller bunch. I have a lot more reading to catch up on than I’ve gotten done lately, which is starting to get a bit into the realm of the ridiculous, unfortunately!